Fujairah Collage

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Blog SiteFujairah in Focus has been since 2007 a blog site offering information, photographs, links, ideas, dreams and views with a Fujairah flavour.

Fujairah Facebook PageBlog articles will continue to be posted on this Fujairah in Focus blog site but many more articles, links and pictures with a Fujairah theme will appear on the new Fujairah in Focus Facebook Page.

Challenging the Information DesertLocal and overseas readers of the Fujairah in Focus blog have frequently complained about the lack of day to day information available about Fujairah, especially in the UAE newspapers. Business representatives have also expressed the desire for more platforms upon which they may advertise their new services, people and products.

Why Facebook?Facebook is one of the most popular sites on the Internet with an estimated user membership of almost 500 million. The international reach of Facebook makes it an effective vehicle for making local news on such a topic as ‘Fujairah’ accessible to a worldwide audience.

The UAE leads the Middle East in the number of Facebook users with 36% of UAE residents registered with Facebook. According to Arabian Business, of these 1,600, 000 Facebook users in the Emirates, 63% are male and 37% are female.

While the USA leads the world in Facebook users with 40.7% penetration, the Middle East and the UAE specifically are catching up at a rapid rate. Facebook users in the UAE have increased by a staggering 11% in the last six months.

The National reported that “local Web surfers [are] more than twice as likely to use the [Facebook] site as the global average.”

When I last reported on Facebook users in the UAE in October 2007, Facebook was the 7th most visited site. Currently (22 May 2010) Facebook is the 2nd most visited site after google.ae and before google.com, youtube.com, yahoo.com, live.com, msn.com, blogger.com and Wikipedia.org.

All this makes Facebook in the UAE and the Middle East a significant platform for sharing news, networking and advertising.

Much More at Fujairah in Focus on FacebookIn addition to the daily articles on the Fujairah in Focus blog the Fujairah in Focus Facebook Page has also posted news in the last week about celebrations for the Taweelah-Fujairah pipeline, solar power, religious tolerance, price rises and inflation in Fujairah, fishing and overfishing with visits to the Fujairah fish market, hotel expansion, the digital device and electronics conference (DCC MEA), diving courses, the inaugural fashion exhibition, the forthcoming inspection of schools, ID cards, Fujairah holiday packages, a video on the attractive features of the Al Aqah beaches, resources for visiting Wadi Wuruyah, counselling services, international phone rates, the aluminium industry, the Middle East Retail Academy awards, Fujairah number plates for sale and sources for getting accurate weather information on Fujairah.

So many events and issues in one week from this rapidly growing and changing emirate of Al Fujairah!

Visit the New SiteDo drop by to inspect this new Fujairah in Focus Facebook Page and when you click the LIKE IT button you will get alerts whenever new articles, links and photos on Fujairah are posted.

Geoff Pound

Connect with Geoff Pound on Facebook, Twitter or at geoffpound(at)gmail.com